Arjun, 33 — Munich
An engineer whose exit plan and citizenship clock are pulling in opposite directions.
Exit first, or passport first?
Arjun moved from Bengaluru six years ago. He spends €2,600 a month, holds €210,000 and saves €2,800. His number is on schedule — but so is something else: the residence clock that eventually turns into a passport, and it only ticks while he stays.
12 yrs 2 mo at 45
Their numbers, in the tools
The Exit Calculator, prefilled Find your country the way they would The rules where they live: Germany · cost index 108.3Arjun's spreadsheet says one thing and his residence permit says another. Leave too early and the clock he's been feeding resets to zero; the exit that looked efficient costs him the passport that would make every later move easy.
His real optimisation isn't the fee or the savings rate — it's sequencing. Finish the clock, take the passport, then exit with a door that never closes. Patience here isn't caution. It's the highest-yield asset he owns.
Everyone here runs at a deliberately modest 5% real return (after inflation) and a ×30 number — the calculators default to showing you more of the range; drag the sliders yourself. The people are invented, the arithmetic is real, and none of it is advice.
Bring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.